possible ID theft in progress new inquiry

I received an alert the other day about a new inquiry on my credit reports. I checked it out and apparently someone tried to apply for a cell phone account with Consumer Cellular. I did not do this so after i called consumer celluar and told them, i initiated a dispute, which came back verified. I called Consumer Cellular again explaining this and although no new account was granted with my info, someone did try to open an account. I am quite concerned about this. I just placed a fraud alert on EQ. but will this affect my tax refund or anything else? what are the disadvantages of a fraud alert?

Re: possible ID theft in progress new inquiry

The Fraud Alert will have no impact on anything outside of applying for new credit accounts. It will not prevent you from opening any new credit accounts either. It simply requires the credit issuer to contact you and verify your identity prior to processing any new accounts. This means if you do apply for any credit online you will not receive an instant approval but will see the "We need additional time to process" message and will need to contact them or wait for them to contact you.

I would maintain whatever credit monitoring service you are using and keep an eye on your reports. Hopefully, it was just a case of Consumer Cellular entering the wrong information instead of true identity theft. Even if it was ID theft the fraud alert and the failure of the initial try at opening an account should discourage them. If you are truly concerned you could request a credit freeze be placed on all your reports. This means that you have to contact the individual bureaus and provide them with a PIN and authorization to allow a specific creditor to receive information.

Best financial advice I ever got: "Just imagine what an adult would do and do that."Starting Score:500'sCurrent Score:EQ 701 (FICO) TU 721 (FICO) EX 715 (Quizzle) Goal Score:760 ALL

Re: possible ID theft in progress new inquiry

yes, i was hoping it was an error on the creditor's part, but when i contacted them a second time, it does not appear to be that way. I would like to have the inquiry removed also, but since EQ verified it, i don't know what the next step is. the creditor told me follow "normal resolution" with the CRB's. not sure what that is though. since it has been verified by EQ, don't know how to have it removed

Re: possible ID theft in progress new inquiry

You are probably not going to get the inquiry removed as Consumer Cellular will simply assert that at the time they had a legitimate purpose for accessing the information. The inquiry is a very minor thing and its effect will diminish rapidly. Depending on how many other inquiries on that report it could range from 0 points to 5 points in impact. In a year it is no longer factored as part of FICO scoring.

Your big concern needs to remain who has a hold of your information and what are they trying to do with it.

Best financial advice I ever got: "Just imagine what an adult would do and do that."Starting Score:500'sCurrent Score:EQ 701 (FICO) TU 721 (FICO) EX 715 (Quizzle) Goal Score:760 ALL

Re: possible ID theft in progress new inquiry

The FCRA identity theft process permits a consumer to have information in their file that is asserted to be the result of potential identity theft blocked from further inclusion in their credit report by putting that assertion into a police report and fowarding a copy of the police report to the CRA.

Re: possible ID theft in progress new inquiry

I received an alert the other day about a new inquiry on my credit reports. I checked it out and apparently someone tried to apply for a cell phone account with Consumer Cellular. I did not do this so after i called consumer celluar and told them, i initiated a dispute, which came back verified. I called Consumer Cellular again explaining this and although no new account was granted with my info, someone did try to open an account. I am quite concerned about this. I just placed a fraud alert on EQ. but will this affect my tax refund or anything else? what are the disadvantages of a fraud alert?

Even if you put a fraud alert on your reports, it will not stop lenders from accessing your reports which will be HP's . The only way to stop the access is a security freeze on each of the 3 CB

The disadvantages of a FA ! Is that when you apply for credit you will have to verifier that's it you ( no instance discussion )

Re: possible ID theft in progress new inquiry

I have fraud alerts on all three of my CR, and I don't even know if it does any good. I also have Lifelock, which seems to catch all attempts. I have been a victim of identity theft since 2004, and to this day it is a constant nightmare. My personal information, ssn, old last name, etc. is out on the Internet, don't know how it got there. I have at least 2-3 attempts a month by someone trying to get online credit with my personal information, so it does me no good to fill out a police report, because I would be filling one out 2-3 times a month! I don't know how much time, money and resources I have spent trying to get HP off my credit reports writing letters, making phone calls, etc. All of that brings my score down. Frankly, I am fed up with it and I don't think the government is doing enough to prevent it or to catch these SOB's that keep doing it. You would think they could flag your SSN or something.

Re: possible ID theft in progress new inquiry

I have fraud alerts on all three of my CR, and I don't even know if it does any good. I also have Lifelock, which seems to catch all attempts. I have been a victim of identity theft since 2004, and to this day it is a constant nightmare. My personal information, ssn, old last name, etc. is out on the Internet, don't know how it got there. I have at least 2-3 attempts a month by someone trying to get online credit with my personal information, so it does me no good to fill out a police report, because I would be filling one out 2-3 times a month! I don't know how much time, money and resources I have spent trying to get HP off my credit reports writing letters, making phone calls, etc. All of that brings my score down. Frankly, I am fed up with it and I don't think the government is doing enough to prevent it or to catch these SOB's that keep doing it. You would think they could flag your SSN or something.

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